Blanche Cave (Third Chamber)
Basic information
Sample name: Blanche Cave (Third Chamber)
Reference: A. C. Macken and E. H. Reed. 2014. Postglacial reorganization of a small-mammal paleocommunity in southern Australia reveals thresholds of change. Ecological Monographs 84(4):563-577 [ER 3747]
Geography
Country: Australia
State: South Australia
Coordinate: 37° 2' 0" S, 141° 48' 50" E
Latlng basis: stated in text
Time interval: Late Pleistocene
Max Ma: 0.04326
Min Ma: 0.01247
Age basis: radiocarbon (uncalibrated)
Geography comments: "Blanche Cave is located within Naracoorte Caves National Park in southeast South Australia, 12 km southeast of the Naracoorte township. It is one of 26 caves in the Naracoorte Caves complex".
Radiocarbon dates for the third chamber range from 43, 260 ± 1840 BP (St Pierre et al. 2012) to 12, 470 ± 60 BP (Darrénougué et al. 2009).
Radiocarbon dates for the third chamber range from 43, 260 ± 1840 BP (St Pierre et al. 2012) to 12, 470 ± 60 BP (Darrénougué et al. 2009).
Environment
Lithology: sandstone
Taphonomic context: bird accumulation, cave, pitfall trap
Habitat comments: "Blanche Cave consists of over 200 m of large chambers and passages with sediment and debris cones located beneath three roof window entrances. Sediment deposits within the cave are typically deep and well stratified, having derived from surrounding surface soils and aeolian material".
"Excavation of deposits in the third chamber revealed abundant speleothem fragments, including straw stalactites and well preserved vertebrate faunal remains. Taphonomic analysis has revealed that vertebrate remains accumulated via multiple accumulating modes, most notably owl pellet deposition, as well as pitfall entrapment and natural deaths of cave dwelling species".
"Excavation of deposits in the third chamber revealed abundant speleothem fragments, including straw stalactites and well preserved vertebrate faunal remains. Taphonomic analysis has revealed that vertebrate remains accumulated via multiple accumulating modes, most notably owl pellet deposition, as well as pitfall entrapment and natural deaths of cave dwelling species".
Methods
Life forms: rodents, other large mammals, other small mammals, birds, lizards
Sampling methods: quarry, screenwash
Sample size: 21713 specimens
Sampled by: T. Laslett, E. R. Reed
Years: 2006-2007
Net or trap nights: 0
Basal area status: not applicable
Sampling comments: "A 2 x 3 metre excavation of the third chamber deposit of Blanche Cave was conducted in 2006-2007".
The specimen counts below pertain to the faunal remains recovered from two 1 x 1 m grid squares: B2 and A3. Grid B2 had its sediment removed in "5 cm excavation units to a depth of approximately 1.1 m". Grid A3 was "excavated according to 27 discrete sedimentary layers ranging from 1 cm to 6 cm thick to a total depth of 1 m. The remains were sorted from bulk excavated material following wet-screening through 1–2 mm2 mesh sieves".
The NISP counts for the mammalian remains recovered from grid square A3 are provided by Macken and Reed (2014). The faunal remains from grid square B2, along with the avian remains from square A3, were obtained by the sample enterer during a collections visit to the South Australian Museum in September 2022.
The specimen counts below pertain to the faunal remains recovered from two 1 x 1 m grid squares: B2 and A3. Grid B2 had its sediment removed in "5 cm excavation units to a depth of approximately 1.1 m". Grid A3 was "excavated according to 27 discrete sedimentary layers ranging from 1 cm to 6 cm thick to a total depth of 1 m. The remains were sorted from bulk excavated material following wet-screening through 1–2 mm2 mesh sieves".
The NISP counts for the mammalian remains recovered from grid square A3 are provided by Macken and Reed (2014). The faunal remains from grid square B2, along with the avian remains from square A3, were obtained by the sample enterer during a collections visit to the South Australian Museum in September 2022.
Metadata
Sample no: 3995
Contributor no: Benjamin Carter
Enterer: Benjamin Carter
Created: 2022-09-20 16:00:50
Modified: 2022-09-21 00:05:06
Abundance distribution
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts. Values are logged.
Statistics
57 species
8 singletons
total count 21713
geometric series index: 75.4
Fisher's α: 7.102
geometric series k: 0.8545
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.824
Shannon's H: 2.1526
Good's u: 0.9996
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